Teen gets 30 years for shooting

When Tracy McClard stood before the court at her son's sentencing Tuesday, she spoke of the many victims created when 16-year-old Jonathan McClard shot another teenager three times at a Jackson car wash July 10.

In addition to the victim of the shooting, Jeremy Voshage, 17, and his family, Tracy McClard's oldest son has suffered seizures because of the case, and her husband was absent from the hearing because he was seeking medical treatment for stress.

"I'm not trying to make any excuses for Jonathan whatsoever," Tracy McClard said quietly to Circuit Judge David A. Dolan as she shed light on some of the circumstances she said led to the shooting.

When Dolan imposed the maximum sentence for first-degree assault -- 30 years in prison -- Tracy McClard bowed her head at the back of the Mississippi County courtroom as her son stared straight ahead.

Cape Girardeau County Prosecuting Attorney Morley Swingle asked the court for the maximum sentence, 30 years to life, calling the crime one of "cold deliberation." Jonathan McClard had pleaded guilty to luring the unarmed Voshage to the Shawnee Square Car Wash and shooting him in the spine, then firing two more bullets, one into his groin and one into his ankle, once he was on the ground, loading another round into the chamber of a .22-caliber rifle each time.

McClard's attorney, Patrick McMenamin, said the sentence was disproportionate, considering an adult could not receive a day more in prison for a murder conviction, and believes that McClard's age, drug use and state of mind at the time of the shooting were mitigating circumstances.

"I don't think this would have happened if he'd been an adult," McMenamin said after the hearing.

The victim's mother, Karen Oberman, spoke first at the hearing, struggling to put into words what her family has endured, what she referred to as a "mother's worst nightmare."

"All I could do was stand and watch," Oberman said of arriving at the four-bay car wash on Shawnee Boulevard and waiting behind yellow police tape as paramedics worked on her son.

Voshage's injuries will haunt him the rest of his life, complicating his pre-existing medical problems from diabetes, rendering him unable to work and robbing the family of a sense of security, Oberman said.

She also said her son's girlfriend, whom McClard used to date, heard McClard threaten to kill Voshage. Two weeks before the shooting, she said, McClard attacked Voshage with a group of friends, leaving bloody scratches and bruises on his throat.

As for July 10, "I believe Jonathan intended to murder my son that day," she said.

Tracy McClard told the court her son said he had been dealing with repeated phone calls from Voshage's girlfriend, who said she was pregnant and that Voshage was forcing her to use cocaine.

McMenamin said he did not believe either claim was true, but added that having conversations with the girl spoke to McClard's state of mind at the time of the shooting, McMenamin said.

He was also taking 30 tablets at a time of dextromethorphan, a cold medication that can cause psychotic and schizophrenic symptoms in large doses, McMenamin said.

The defense asked Dolan to issue a dual jurisdiction sentence that would send McClard to Division of Youth Services rather than the Department of Corrections until his 17th birthday in January, when he'd be re-evaluated.

That would send the wrong message, Swingle argued.

"The citizens of Jackson, especially the young people, need to see that if you go hunting for a human being and shoot that person down in cold blood, you will go to prison for a very long time," Swingle said.

Dolan said a past experience with issuing dual jurisdiction was unsuccessful, as the defendant was released and shot someone else. Brent Buerck, with the Division of Youth Services, testified for the defense that only 17 percent of juvenile offenders in the program committed the same crimes.

bdicosmo@semissourian.com

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